Nuance Dragon Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 (Old Version)

I have only been using this for one day, but I must say that so far I find it incredibly functional and easy to use. My microphone is Sennheiser PC 25-S. I am speaking naturally, without having to awkwardly enunciate all my words, and the accuracy is really high, 90% or more. Whats great, too, is that telling it to correct is easy. The user interface is helpful, and prompts you in straightforward intuitive ways. I look forward to working with this more, especially as the program is learning my speech patterns and vocabulary. I purchased this after reading a lot of user reviews, and after trying to use the built in Windows speech recognition (which totally sucked! even though I was using the same quality Sennheiser microphone and spoke clearly and slowly-- accuracy rate at best was 40 to 50%-- very frustrating). One thing that was a hitch, though, was that the program did not install properly from the CD disc onto my Windows 7 Pro 64 bit desktop. But a quick call to Nuances tech support solved the problem. They walked me through discovering that, in my case, it was a .dll error, the solution to which was to uninstall, then download a new installer online which they sent me a link to. That installation went smoothly and I was immediately able to work through dictation! Whew, I am so glad! This is an important first step for me to heal from the bad tendinosis I have in both arms from too much typing and mousing!

So many ways to dislike this software. First of all, it took over an hour to install; but I guess I should feel lucky as, when I read the experiences of others, many were not able to install it at all. Next, setting up the microphone was a challenge. The software came with a new headset/microphone combo so when setting it up with the software, there was an option for Dragon Remote Microphone or something like that. There was no explanation that that option pertains to an Android app which allows your tablet to act as a microphone, consequently I wasted a lot of time and finally found the answer to that problem by Googling it several times. Tried setting it up for my wife who is vision-challenged, thus her display is set to high-contrast. This resulted in some of the setup dialog boxes being invisible. Wouldnt you think that this software is likely to be used by someone with vision problems and design it to work with high contrast displays? Anyway, once we figured that out, the next challenge one faces is that of having to read documents of 5000 words, yes FIVE THOUSAND WORDS, or so to train it. The Microsoft speech recognition software that comes with Windows allows you to train it as you go, reading as much or as little at a time as you desire, a much more user-friendly way to go. Also maddening is the fact that there are dead links within the Dragon software. For example, in the training texts, a link appears above stating something like Click here to learn how to improve visibility of the text. Guess what? You click the link and absolutely nothing happens. I always thought the Microsoft Speech Recognition software was pretty good but my wife insisted she wanted to try Dragon as she had heard so many good things about it. I set up a profile for myself and trained it; so far I havent found anything it could do that the Microsoft software couldnt do as well, so I would just as soon have saved the 50 bucks or so that I spent on Dragon Naturally Speaking as a gift for my wife.

As stated, it was very accurate right out of the box. The tutorial was only semi-functional on my laptop, and extremely brief. The headset is of surprisingly decent quality, with respect to the microphone, but lacks adjustability, cord length, and becomes uncomfortable after a few hours. I have a smaller head, for an adult, and it squeezes my ears and head, causing a pressure headache. It would be helpful to add a better quick-guide in the box, as the one provided is only a card stock fold out, and does not have many useful commands listed. The new features greatly improve functionality, and only took a few hours to get used to the dictation style. Overall, great software, mediocre hardware.

I live with a disability that prevents me from using your standard keyboard with relative ease. Dragon NaturallySpeaking has been a bit of a lifesaver, for me. Granted, there are some issues with the way it understands me (even after Ive trained the program, twice). However, as far as speech to text goes, this program is the best! I also think that the fact that Im using a web cam microphone might be why Im having some of the issues that I have. The software does come with its own microphone headset, I just dont use it because it keeps me tethered to the computer. If anybody can recommend a good wireless microphone headset (or microphone) that I can wear with my bowler hat, Id be appreciative!

Im NOT at all sorry I bought this. The concept is exciting. I will say that theres a lot more to it than meets the eye, though. Let me explain: Im 80+, long since retired, with stiff fingers, and some other issues. My learning curve has slowed down, and there is much to learn to make Dragon fully functional. However, I have had it up an running for about two weeks or so, and Im impressed. Im using it as a kind of overlay, within which I call up my email systems, Amazon, MS Word, and verbally have them do something for me on screen. Currently, Im playing around with transcribing into a recorder [Olympus-722-PC], thence to the Dragon mic. Its still a little weird to see what I say pop up on screen, though. I would add the most of the really negative responses were earlier versions, and for inadequate computer systems I have a 2.1 micropressor, and I thhink it is a bit slow. I upped my RAM from 3 to 6, and am having no discernable problem with speed of processing. [Im slow, too

I have dyslexia--not the kind where you have trouble reading, though. I have enormous trouble typing, and get the letters mixed around with as many as 3 to 7 typos per sentence. This meant I was a dismally slow typist. Worse, I am a writer and editor. When writing I would lose the flow of what I wanted to say when I went back to fix each sentence. Well, no longer. Dragon NaturallySpeaking Home 13 has changed my life. I used to get 1,000 words on a good 8-hour day of writing; now I can write over 1,000 words an hour. And my editing work is so much faster that I have more time to write! I know there are newer versions, but this one works for me just fine. I was up and running in two days and it just keeps getting better as Dragon adapts to my pronunciation and I learn more commands. I am one happy, satisfied customer.

This program is not as easy as one would think. First thing you should do is buy a better set of headphones with the program. The pair that are included did pick up my voice well and caused me hours of frustration. It also does not work well if you are reading things like recipes. It clearly states that you should speak in a normal voice and at a normal pace, but reading a recipe doesnt always work that way. After about two hours of continually having to correct the word eggs I gave up. By the time I went back and corrected all the mistakes in the text it would have been faster to just type it myself. I would guess if I wanted to dictate letters or work on a term paper this would work fine, but its not what I purchased it for. What a pity.

Would not recommend this software to someone with a southern accent - I could not get product to understand my words no matter how many times I tried the setup feature that should teach the program my voice. Im fairly decent with computers but this is one of the few items Ive had to return to Amazon. It did come with a nice headset which impressed me, so Ill give it 2 stars instead of one. I felt bad that it didnt work since it would have made my life much easier. The software install and setup seemed easy and software was easy to navigate. Just a caution - once installed it seemed to make some of my other programs open slower. Update 12/1/19: I returned this software for a refund a week after purchase. However, I really needed a voice to text software and ended up buying the pro edition (even though I feared it wouldnt be any better). It was a struggle to get the software loaded but I called Dragon support and they helped. Turns out the pro version works great for me. Im using a low-cost USB mic that had high ratings (not a headset).

Dragon Naturally Speaking Home Review I bought this one because it was the cheapest, but didnt consider the add-ons 1. Headphones ( the ones with two prongs and mic) 2. special connection jack 3. second special connection jack since the first one didnt fit my computer. It takes an hour to upload. I also had to watch Youtube videos to install the voice recognition mike and software, which I did. Ran through the tutorial, which shows you many things you can do--only to find out my version didnt do it. I went to the Chrome store and added a dictation box, since the software is made to work with Internet Explorer. On the introduction, I could choose from Southern American, Spanish Accented English, British English, and Standard. I chose standard, but soon found out certain words with U, OUR, or OU the the software had no clue what I was saying. I did talk slowly, ennunciate, and in full sentences. It also has an issue with homonyms. It spelled dawn as Dawn and Don. I could not use quote marks because my version didnt support it. I have read online that I can go into Microsoft office and tweak a few things, so I might try that. The home version is good for writing emails and searching the web. These were never things I had issues with. In the end, it made more work for me.

Ive been a Dragon user for years, so - when the new release came out - I purchased it and upgraded. It has been a disappointment -- the new Dragon bar at the top of the screen expands whenever I scroll near it, and I find the software is a lot less responsive online (I grade papers in Google Classroom, and the new version has a very difficult time recognizing online documents as text fields). After a few frustrating hours of trying to make it work, I uninstalled and tried to roll back to version 12. Unfortunately, I needed to then do a clean install and cant find the disk. I went to Nuance, figuring since I registered the product I should be able to download a clean copy and reinstall but they have no download area, and wanted me to send them ten bucks for a replacement disk. So, looks like Im moving over to Google voice to text... a real shame, after some six years of using Dragon.